painting - Golden Lovers beaded

Submitted by ClearlyChosen on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 01:25

Golden Lovers - beaded wall hanging

I bought a painting entitled "Golden Lovers" some time this year from Nigel Gillings, a local Sydney artist. The purchase was made at the Paddington Markets in Sydney though Nigel does have his own website (www.nigelart.com). Ever since my purchase of that painting, I have been itching to create a beaded sister version of it to hang on our walls.

This here is the beaded version. It is done in beaded crochet. Admittedly this is my first attempt at a beaded wall hanging so there was a lot of learning that resulted from the process. Also, it is not yet complete as now I have to go to a professional framer to get some advice and assistance as to how best to frame this. I will post the final pics later as and when the work gets framed.

When stringing beads to be crocheted, these are the main things to keep in mind:

You cannot string all of the beads at once. Maybe about 10-20 rows at a time, depending on how many beads are in per row. It is impossible to string all the beads because as you work, the beads have to be continuously moved back along the reel as you crochet. 10-20 rows of the required beads is normally manageable.
You need to work downwards and backwards when you string.
Say you will be stringing 10 rows at a time. Then for the first stringing section, you start from row 10.
And you string the correct colored beads (according to the graph) from right to left (on the graph).
That means you string row 10, right to left.
Then row 9, right to left. And so on. When you reach row 1 ... you start crocheting.
The next stringing section, you start the same process from row 20 to row 11. Then crochet.
Tip: make a tick for when you have strung a row and a cross when you have crocheted a row. This really is almost essential so you don't lose your place when working on a large piece of work.
It is always much preferable to not use 2 strands of thread together for this kind of work. I had to do it here as I did not have a single strand of the right color that was thick enough for me. However having the double strand to deal with was a headache you just don't need.

Click on thumbnails to view details.

	This photo here is of the original signed painting by Nigel Gillings. I have shown the actual measurements.		This is a graphed version using Photoshop and a lot of graphic manipulation to create the graph as well as to fill each square within the graph for accurate beading later on. (apprx 70 stitches over 90 rows) I discovered later that there is a mistake here. The picture was first 'squashed' downwards because normally a 10x10 beaded square will end up taller than wide - hence not a square but a tall rectangle. By squashing the picture about 1/3 its vertical height should normally result in the correct proportions after it has been (crochet) beaded. It is only after 'squashing' the picture is the graph lines created and the graph-squares filled in with the colors for the beads.Each square of the graph has to be filled in precisely because when it comes to beading/stringing time, one will need a very accurate number of beads to string per row.
	This here is the final piece. Because I had 'squashed' the picture in the graphing stage, the final output is a bit shorter than I intended. This was a result of me changing my intended crochet method when I actually started crocheting. Instead of one beaded row, followed by a 'blank' (non-beaded) return row, followed by the next beaded row - I actually picked up the stitch from the last beaded row (hence 'absorbing' the entire 'blank' row). This eliminated the normal beaded elongation effect that would normally have happened and as a result, the final output was not as tall as I anticipated. The good news though is that the final piece is much firmer and stronger than anticipated as well. This can be seen in the firm solid back of the work (as shown in the photos below).		A close up of the beaded painting with measurements.
	A shot of the beaded piece lying down.		A close up of a part of the beaded section. Part of the pleasure of this work is that you do not necessarily have to use identically sized beads like Miyuki or Toho seed beads. Even the more economical China or India seed beads should work and the unevenness of the seed beads actually creates a better texture and effect for larger beaded crochet work like wall hangings or even for clothing.
	Here is a close up of the back. Notice how solid and firm the back is from using the technique of "absorbing" the return blank row.		Here is another shot. This also better shows that I have sewn on edging beads (backstitched) to neaten up all the edges of the beaded crochet painting.
	I will add more photos once this work has been properly framed.